Home defense/concealed carry pistol ideas $500 range?

This is a discussion on Home defense/concealed carry pistol ideas $500 range? within the Defensive Carry Guns forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; My brother is looking for his first firearm purchase of a Home Defense pistol that eventually he could also carry concealed when he gets his ...

Home defense/concealed carry pistol ideas $500 range?

My brother is looking for his first firearm purchase of a Home Defense pistol that eventually he could also carry concealed when he gets his CCW. He would like to keep it around $500. He was leaning toward a 9mm due to ammo cost and he wants his wife to be able to use it confidently as well, but not opposed to other options.

I am partial to Springfield. The XD family are all awesome and reliable. I only carry .45s, but they also have 9s and .40s. I personally carry the XDS single stack .45, but its all what they feel comfortable shooting. I can buy all day in Florida for right at 500.00

Personal preference, okay? I've got several double-stack guns (Glock 19, Springfield XD40) and several single-stack guns (Ruger LC9, M&P Shield 40). The double-stacks are fine for home defense because you can shove anywhere from 12 to 15 rounds into a magazine. But for concealed carry I prefer a single-stack pistol. They're thinner and lighter, hence more comfortable on my hip. I compensate for the smaller magazine capacity by carrying a spare mag.

I would echo the sentiment of getting a compact pistol, M&P9c, G26 or G19 or the like, and then aquiring full size(FS) mags for those firearms(if they ever become available again)
For instance, if you buy an M&P of any caliber in a compact frame, you can get FS mags which will hold more rounds and have that for a HD pistol.
Same thing with a Glock 26, the G 19 mags will fit them, and so on and so on.
Springfield XD is set ip the same, as well as Ruger SR series I believe.
Do your homework for other makers first thought.

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Still waiting on my permit to arrive, plan to carry Ruger LCP in pocket and Ruger Sr9c in waistband. Really like the SR9C.
I have a Rossi stubby 357 magnum I bought for less than $400, not much recoil, is all metal, and your wife could use 38 special in something like that if the 357 round is too much. Be a little more difficult to conceal but doable for you. In my opinion it would be tough for a woman to conceal carry something larger than a sub compact 9 unless she's going to carry off body.

My brother is looking for his first firearm purchase of a Home Defense pistol that eventually he could also carry concealed when he gets his CCW. He would like to keep it around $500. He was leaning toward a 9mm due to ammo cost and he wants his wife to be able to use it confidently as well, but not opposed to other options...

If he's looking for his first gun, he should be looking at a mid-sized revolver. SP-101 or a K-Frame or similar. If he's GOT to have a semi-auto, a G19, G17 or M&P 9 is a no-brainer.

My brother is looking for his first firearm purchase of a Home Defense pistol that eventually he could also carry concealed when he gets his CCW. He would like to keep it around $500. He was leaning toward a 9mm due to ammo cost and he wants his wife to be able to use it confidently as well, but not opposed to other options.

Thanks for the input,
Chris

The key part of what you wrote is that his wife wants to eventually learn how to use it. I'll assume she is not a gun
person and has not handled one before. The various ways which semi-autos operate can be confusing to a newcomer,
and you will likely want her to learn on something with the simplest (but safe) action.

All the "little" things experienced shooters take for a given such as mag release, decocker, thumb safety, grip safety,
slide lock mechanism, having or not having one in the pipe, can be hard for a newcomer.

So, with that all in mind, I'd look for something she is likely to readily learn on without feeling overwhelmed. I know what I would suggest but don't want to start either a caliber war, a pistol v revolver war, a hammer v striker war, a Glock v the world war, and so forth and so on.

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Re: Home defense/concealed carry pistol ideas $500 range?

Sig sp2022 is an awesome home defense gun, but I cannot conceal it for anything. My kel Tec pf9 may take some getting used to shooting, but i like the challenge and think it will make me a better shooter in the long run, and I cant even feel it on my hip right now with an iwb sticky holster at 3 o clock. Keep this thing on me all day and by my bed at night. Keep my cell phone in a holster on my hip and a spare mag on my weak side front pocket and i have 15 rounds of hornaday critical defense if needed. Same as my sp2022 but i can and do actually carry it.